


Fit for Present Death

by jesterlady



Category: Lost
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Character Death, Death, Deathfic, Episode Related, F/M, Gen, Horror, Murder, Non-Graphic Violence, Season/Series 01, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-12-17 23:42:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/873261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterlady/pseuds/jesterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ethan does what he says-an incredibly AU version of Homecoming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fit for Present Death

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Spoilers for S1 ep Homecoming. MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH  
> A/N: Okay, I know this fic is impractical. There's no way Ethan could have killed all of them, but I also didn't think he could drag two people through the jungle by himself (Judging from Tom's reaction in Maternity Leave, I don't think he had help) and be so far ahead and leaving false trails and hanging Charlie and fighting Jack. Anyway, I was re-watching and I just was struck to see what it would be like if Ethan had somehow managed to kill everyone, leaving Charlie for last. And, yes, it was hard to kill EVERYONE!  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. The title is by John Bunyan

Ethan did what he said. Charlie wasn't sure what type of horror movie he was living in because it didn't seem possible that one man could kill forty-five people who had the guns that Jack eventually brought out.

They circled the wagons like Locke said to do. They went on the offensive like Kate wanted. They separated like Sawyer went and did without offering to take anybody with him. They captured Ethan like Sayid set out to do. But the man escaped the trap and left Sayid's broken body behind him. 

That was when Claire was finally told what was going on. She yelled at him for a few minutes and then a look of terror had come across her face. Charlie had never wanted to erase a look so badly before.

People didn't sleep anymore. No one went anywhere alone or without a weapon. It didn't matter. They were picked off, one by one. Soon, Ethan wasn't waiting until sundown, wasn't taking just one at a time. Charlie wondered how truly psychotic someone had to be to want one pregnant girl so very badly. On the other hand, being with Claire, some part of him could sympathize. A small part. 

When Jack was killed on the eleventh day Kate went berserk and went tearing off into the jungle clutching the last gun with ammo. Sawyer swore and went after her. There were two gun shots and the huddled castaways hoped against hope that the bullets were embedded in Ethan's chest. When Sawyer came crawling out of the jungle, a death rattle in his throat, they knew better. It didn't make it any easier that the man everyone hated had been the one to die before them - and in trying to help someone else.

With the doctor dead, the fear went rampant. Several of the others caught a screaming Claire, restrained a raging Charlie, and tied her in a jungle clearing: a sacrificial offering to the jungle king. Claire might have sat quietly and waited for her death if not for her child and if not for Charlie whose mouth was bleeding from gnawing at his own vine bindings and who came to untie her.

Charlie often thought in the next few days that if only Ethan had known he shouldn't have killed Paulo and Nikki, the chief leaders in the give-her-up group, then it would have all been over and Claire would be gone.

Some sort of civilized quality came over everyone, even as people dropped, ten in one day, three in another. Claire offered herself up in a jungle clearing on the day that Michael and Walt were found bleeding over a dead John Locke with one of his precious knives stuck in his back. Charlie dragged her back and Hurley helped him. And just like that all the protectors were gone. Anyone that they would have thought would be capable of saving them. 

Boone tried to do it, but he was hindered with lack of experience and knowledge. He managed to stop the bleeding when Sun had her wrists slit one day. Jin went almost homicidal and only Sun's faint groping for him kept him from doing the same thing Kate had done. That night Boone and Jin managed to capture Ethan again and they were just on the point of striking the fatal blow when the man surged aside like a snake and the knife went to his thigh instead of his heart. The knife then went into Boone and Jin.

Shannon tried attacking Claire after she stopped crying over her brother's broken body. Charlie fought her off. She ran into the jungle where horrible noises could be heard and they didn't see her anymore. They were never sure if it was Ethan or the monster. Sun went soon after that.

They were a huddled little group. Hurley, Rose, Charlie and Claire. Charlie started to wish he could be killed so he didn't have to watch anymore. But he knew he would be last. He started to try to analyze Ethan's psyche, how a man could have lived with them for weeks, befriended them, and then kill them all in cold blood for one single girl.

Rose prayed and went down praying, clutching her husband's wedding ring to her lips. Claire wept and cried, going into false labor and Charlie had to practically hold her down to keep her from injuring herself. He could barely see himself, as he and Hurley buried the woman who had helped him past the first hurdle of his near death experience. They were both excellent gravediggers by this point.

“Dude, whatever happens, it's been an adventure,” Hurley said and Charlie blinked sleep weary eyes. 

He hadn't slept in three days. 

“This is my fault, it's all my fault,” Claire mumbled over and over, almost in her sleep, her body unable to stay awake any longer.

“I can't do this without you,” Charlie croaked, surprised that his voice still worked.

“I'm big and slow, man,” Hurley said. “I don't know how I lasted this long. And we know he won't kill you. But you did good, Charlie.”

“I failed everyone,” Charlie said and he desperately wished at that moment that he hadn't thrown his heroin away. The withdrawal was killing him, and the loss of it had probably made him draw closer to Claire. Maybe none of this would have happened. “Hurley, don't die.”

“It's not like I want to. But I made my peace about it a week ago. We tried running, fighting, hiding. The man obviously has super powers.”

“Evil super powers.”

“Oh, definitely evil. But listen,” Hurley said seriously, “take care of her. I know you feel like you can't do anything, but you've protected her all along. Let that be your thing worth holding onto.”

Charlie nodded, but he didn't know how much of it he heard. He looked at Claire, lying huddled on the ground, and he wanted to disappear.

Hurley seemed to die with a smile on his face. Charlie crossed his hands over his breast and turned to face Ethan who was eying Claire in such a way that Charlie felt a much needed rage well up in his chest.

“I kept my promise, Charlie,” Ethan said. “Now it's your turn.”

“I won't let you anywhere near her ever again,” Charlie hissed. 

Claire picked up her pipe scavenged from the fuselage.

“Charlie,” she whispered nervously.

“I love you, Claire,” he said, looking at her and wondering a little at how it could be so true. 

How he could love someone so deeply while barely knowing her.

“That's sweet,” Ethan said, and he came for Charlie. 

Charlie had Locke's last knife and he used it. He didn't know how, but he used it anyway. Ethan was already limping from Boone's knife and Sayid's trap. Charlie thought back to every movie he'd ever watched. That was how to defeat him. Sure it was.

Ethan was so focused on Charlie, he forgot about Claire, or her physical presence, Charlie doubted if he was ever not thinking about her in some way. She hit him on the head as hard as a pregnant woman could. It was enough to let Charlie drive his knife through Ethan's ribs. The man stopped solid. Evil, red blood poured out and Charlie grabbed his knife and slit the man's throat. There were a few gurgles and then Ethan was dead.

So was everyone else. 

Charlie turned to Claire and helped her up.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You saved my life,” he said.

“I hope you know how to deliver a baby,” she said.

“I hope you know how to take care of a British lunatic,” he said. “That's what I'm planning on being.”

“I bet Australians are loonier,” she said weakly. 

They collapsed together on the ground, his arms around her, and then they were quiet and there was sleep and then everything else would have to happen later.


End file.
